Safety hat and harness mounting



March 24, 1959 c. s. EVANS SAFETY HAT AND HARNESS/MOUNTING Filed April 2, 1955 United States Patent SAFETY HAT AND HARNESS MOUNTING Charles S. Evans, Atherton, Calif., assignor to E. D. Bullard Company, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of California Application April 2, 1956, Serial No. 575,399

6 Claims. (Cl. 2--3) My invention relates to means for supporting a hard safety hat on the head of the wearer.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of improved means for connecting a suspension harness into the crown of a hard bodied safety hat or cap.

Another object is the provision of a self-contained mechanism for mounting a suspension harness in a safety hat, so that by mere manipulation with the fingers, without tools of any kind, the suspension harness may be mounted in or demounted from the hat.

Other objects will be brought out in the following description of the invention. I do not limit myself to the showing made by said description and the drawings, since I may use variant forms of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a safety hat embodying my invention. The view is directed toward the interior of the crown with the brim substantially in a horizontal plane. The scale is approximately one-half actual size.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of the anchor ring expansion means shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the expansion means taken in the direction of the arrow 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the main body of the cam wheel.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the cam wheel cover plate.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the winged guide clips for holding the anchor ring.

Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are drawn to a scale, approximately full size.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing an integrally molded construction of cam wheel hub and anchor ring guides.

With the use of hard bodied safety hats and caps in mines and major building projects, there arises a need for frequent renewals of the lining-like harness by which the hat is comfortably supported on the head of the workman. It is not always possible to give each man a hat solely for his own use, but it is entirely feasible to let each man have his own harness, if it can be quickly and easily applied to and removed from the hard shell which constitutes the hat or cap body. In the following description and the claims, I shall use the word hat generically to include any hat, cap, helmet, or other head gear having a stiff crown, or a stiff zone extending around the lower portion of the crown.

In broad terms my invention is embodied in the combination of a split anchor ring shaped like a large block letter C with its ends close together, and extending in a plane around the inside of a safety hat crown within its lower margin. A wheel with two. cam faces in its edge is journaled in the hat body between the ends of the anchor ring, with an end engaging each cam surface, so that by turning the wheel with the fingers the ends of the anchor ring may be pushed apart to expand the entire ring against the enclosing hat crown.

The ring is prevented from slipping laterally out of its plane by winged guide clips fixed at intervals to the crown. The anchor ring, expanded into its guide clips, supplies a secure mounting means for the suspension harness, loops of which are secured by the ring.

When the cam wheel is turned to loosen the anchor ring, its ends may be readily disengaged from the wheel and from the guide clips, and the harness slipped off. Threading the ring through the loops of a fresh harness, setting the ring in its guides and cam grooves, and turning the cam wheel to expand the ring and seat it securely in the guide clips is the work of a moment, and requires only the fingers.

In greater detail my safety hat and harness mounting comprises a hat body 2, around the lower portion of the crown of which, and on the inside, is an anchor ring 3, shaped like a block letter 0 with the ends 4 evenly I spaced on each side of the mid point at the rear of the crown.

Spaced around the inside of the crown to hold the anchor ring in position, are a plurality of pairs of winged guide clips 6, fixed to the hat crown by rivets 7, and holding the anchor ring 3 in deep notches 8, formed in the wings 9.

I The liner-like suspension harness comprises the head bands 12, doubled through the central tie cord 13 as shown. Each band end is turned back and secured by rivets 14 to form a loop 15, through which the anchor.

ring 3 passes. One side of the loop passes through a slit in the sweatband 16, so that the hat adjusts evenly around the head of the wearer, while the weight of the hat is carried by the suspension bands resting across the top of the head.

A loop harness encloses the anchor ring between the clips 6 of each pair. The clips are spaced apart sufiiciently to allow for a small sliding adjustment of the loops on the ring when the harness adjusts under stresses imposed by the hat in normal use or under accidental blows.

Means are provided to force the ends 4 of the anchor ring apart to expand the ring against the hat body, and lock it rigidly in the notches 8 of the guide clips, so that the harness connected to the anchor ring, evenly and securely supports the hat upon the head of the wearer. Conversely, such means may be manipulated to remove all pressure from the rung ends, so that the anchor ring is loosely held and may easily be taken out of the crown to receive a fresh or replacement harness.

Fixed by rivets 17 at the mid portion of the rear of the crown 2 is a wheel bearing plate 18, formed with a short but relatively large diameter hub 19, extending inwardly toward the center of the crown. On each end, the plate is provided with inwardly extending wings 21, each with a notch 22. The wing and notch being the same as in the guide clip 6, but holding the ends 4 of the anchor ring.

Journaled on the hub 19 is a cam wheel comprising a main body 23, Fig. 4, and a cover plate 24, Fig. 5. These two are secured together by brazing or rivets 26 to provide two like cam faces 27, each at the bottom of a groove 28 extending a little less than half way around the face of the wheel. A notch 29 through the side wall of each groove at its deepest part, provides easy access into the grooves for the ends of the anchor ring; and a shallow depression 31 in the shallow end of each groove tends to retain the ends of the anchor ring therein, and prevent unintended loosening of the ring.

The peripheral edges of the cam wheel are preferably knurled as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 so that it may be turned readily by the fingers.

It will be obvious that in some molded hat bodies, where it is undesirable to have metal rivets extending through the crown wall of the hat body, notched lugs Patented Mar. 24, 1959 3 36, Fig. 7 may beintegrally molded on the inside surface of the crown 2 to hold the anchor ring 3, instead of metalclips. In this ,case, a solid.hub 37 and notched lugs 38 are also integrally molded'on the inside of the crown to take the place of the metal" hub and bearing plate with its notched ends.

The cam wheel and anchor ring 3 are identical to wheel and ring first described, and their cooperative relation with other parts is also identical to their cooperative relation with those parts as first described.

I claim:

1. In a safety hat and suspension harness mounting means, a split anchor ring having a shape approximately, that of the lower inside portion of the hat crown and having its two ends spaced apart, a wheel journaled on the hat crown andhaving a cam surface engaging each end of the anchor ring to expand the ring uponrotation of the wheel in one direction, means on the wheel adjacent each cam surface and engageable by the, ends of the ring to lock the ring in expandedposition, and guide means. for the anchor ring fixed on the hat crown at intervals. therearound.

2. The combination of' claim. 1" in which the spaced ends of the anchor ring are oppositely disposedv and the cam wheel is journal'ed therebetween on a hub integrally extending from a bearing plate fixed 0n the crown.

3'. The combination of claim 2 in which the opposite endsof the bearing plate are provided with guide means in which the oppositely disposed ends of the anchor ringlie.

4; The combination of claim '1 in which the cam wheel has side flanges to enclose each cam surface as the bottom of a groove in which the ends of the anchor ring lie.

5. The combination of claim 4 in which one of the side flanges has a notch to pass an end of the anchor ring into a low end of one of the cam grooves.

6. In a safety hat and suspension harness mounting means, a split anchor ring having a shape approximately that of the lower inside portion of the hat crown and having its two ends oppositely disposed and spaced apart, a cam wheel having a peripheral cam surface engaging each end of the anchor ring, a wheel bearing plate fixed on the hat crown and on which the cam wheel is journaled, notched wings on each end of the wheel bearing plate and in which the oppositely disposed ends, of the anchor ring seat, and notched wings spaced about the interior surface of the crown in substantially thesame plane as the notched wings of the wheel bearing plate to seat the anchor ring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 213,182 Fairchield et a1 Mar. 11, 1879 298,889 Pritchard Mayv 20, 1884 644,597 Guyer et a1 Mar. 6, 1900 2,741,768 Ruggiero Apr. 17, 1 956 

